I just found out a few hours ago that my last remaining grandparent has cancer. I AM PISSED! Why does this damn disease keep coming after my family members? It's like the movie Jaws where the stupid sharks keep coming after generations of the Brody Family. WTF?!?!?! Haven't you hurt enough of my family? You have taken my Grandma (ovarian cancer in 86'), you have taken more than half of her brothers and sisters (she was 1 of 11 children), you have taken my Uncle Fred (79'), you took my mom's best friend (bone cancer in 86'), you took my Aunt Karen's sister in law Glenda (pancreatic cancer in 01'), you took our two boxers Tank (06') and Havok (07') who were our children before we had children, and you tried to take two of my closest friends Randi (Non-Hodgkins's Lymphoma) and Leilani (Brain, Cervical, Ovarian, and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer) and recently a new friend who is a mother of 9 was just diagnosed with breast cancer. Seriously folks, when does it end????
I am sick and tired of hearing that people I care about have cancer!!!! When will it stop?
My grandpa is 96 years old and one of the healthiest people I know. He still drives (and just last year had his drivers license renewed for another 5 years), still dances a few nights a week, and lives alone in a 2 story condo. He went in for surgery this morning to have a growth on his voice box removed. He was nervous as any 96 year old would be to be put under anesthesia. Well once in there, they found that the growth is malignant and he will now have to have radiation every day for the next so many weeks (I can't remember what they said, my brain was kind of frozen).
Our hopes are that my Grandpa doesn't just give up and say, I don't want to go through this at 96 years old. I have lived a great life etc. The good news is that the cancer is 95% treatable, so we have to hope that once he wakes up and views his options that he will chose to fight.
I wish that I lived closer and could help out more. I am 2 1/2 hours away otherwise, I could help take him back and forth to Dr. appts and stay with him for periods of time so he's not alone. Luckily my older brother is amazing and does so much for him as is my Aunt M. who lives closer to him. I just worry that with their busy lives, that they will need help.
So much is going through my head right now and I feel like all of us need to gather and have a huge family meeting. I feel very helpless and of course all those thoughts of "I should spend more time with him, blah blah blah but this is not about me... I need to focus on him. Just another reason why I am involved with the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life
Please keep my amazing grandfather in your thoughts!
{XOXO}
